Quinnipiac University tapped for pilot MBA course

Quinnipiac University in Hamden is one of five universities in the nation selected to participate in a pilot program for business schools involving teaching public relations to students enrolled in master's degree programs in business administration.

The Public Relations Society of America chose the schools for the program, which will begin this fall.

Selected for the pilot program along with Quinnipiac were:

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? Dartmouth College.

? University of Maryland.

? Northwestern University.

? The University of Texas at El Paso.

Launch of the pilot program comes after a PRSA study last fall found that American business leaders view recent MBA graduates as being under-prepared in the areas of strategic communication and reputation management.

"Social media has changed the game and hastened the news cycle," said Joe Cohen, a PRSA board member and a senior vice president at the New Jersey-based MWW Group.

"As a result, protecting corporate reputations has become an area of increased interest."

At Quinnipiac, the pilot program will be launched as a single three-credit class in the MBA program and taught by Kathy Fitzpatrick, a professor of public relations in the School of Communications.

Matthew O'Connor, dean of Quinnipiac's business school, said the course will be offered as an elective, rather than as a requirement of the MBA curriculum.

"There's always pros and cons for any course and whether it should be offered as a required course," O'Connor said.

"We are completely committed to the importance of strategic communication and reputation management skills to future global business leaders and their organizations, as well as to working with PRSA and the schools selected to ensure a highly successful pilot program."

Cohen said PRSA views the program "as a critical first step to establish PR in MBA curriculums."

"The goal is to get PR taught the right way at the MBA level," he said. "It seems to be moving in that direction to begin with, but ultimately the decision as to whether MBA programs will include PR as part of their course offerings will be made from campus to campus."

PRSA developed the course in partnership with Paul Argenti, professor of corporate communications at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business.